Explains Much

From an article in today's NYT:

More generally, the participants said, the president expressed frustration that Iraqis had not come to appreciate the sacrifices the United States had made in Iraq, and was puzzled as to how a recent anti-American rally in support of Hezbollah in Baghdad could draw such a large crowd. “I do think he was frustrated about why 10,000 Shiites would go into the streets and demonstrate against the United States,” said another person who attended.

Beyond further demonstrating the imbecility of the man hastening America's moral collapse, this illustrates perfectly the worldview of a selfish and powerful and insatiable elite. It displays not merely a disregard for the desires and needs and histories and inherent rights of individuals and individual cultures, it shows the depersonalization of those individuals and individual cultures. They were nobody before we chose to conquer them. Their existence started with our exploitative notice. They should be thankful we've deigned to profit by them. They should be grateful we've sacrificed so much to subject them, no matter how much it kills them.